Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Here is my report from the Canadian Grand Prix, the first race of the North American round of the F1 World Championship.

Panasonic Toyota Racing brought new aero parts specifically for the Canadian Grand Prix. Where the curves in front and behind the center section and stay connection of the front wing were more gradual, the new parts show a more sharp edge at the center.

Looking for our best results to date at the race marking the half-way point through the season

Different than the other circuits so far this season, the circuit in Canada has much more of a "stop and go" nature to it. Knowing this, we brought special wing designs for both the front and rear of our cars. This circuit is also grueling on brakes, so we brought in some special measures to improve cooling. Last year, the telemetry in Jarno Trulli's car malfunctioned, leaving us in the dark about the status of his car. During the last part of the race, Jarno experienced some pretty severe braking problems. We haven't forgotten that lesson. We plan on strictly monitoring the cars during the race, putting ourselves in a position to make changes in front and rear brake bias if necessary.

While we stumbled in the first race of this season, we have been making steady progress since, and I think we are pulling closer to the top teams. Being the half-way point in the 2006 season, the entire Panasonic Toyota Racing team has come to Canada committed to win a strong result.

Trouble for Jarno. A tough first day.

Friday turned out to be a really tough day for us. We figured that the track surface wouldn't be very good, but I felt that it was even worse that we were expecting. I was really surprised by how bad the conditions were. The temperature was cool, and the tires didn't warm up like we wanted. We went into the afternoon session working on adjustments to get the tires up to temperature.

	Ralf, looking on as the mechanics work on his car's brake system during Friday practice. The circuit in Montreal requires repeated heavy braking, making it a much more demanding circuit on the brakes than most others in the F1 World Championship.

The sun came out during the afternoon, heating the track, so conditions were quite a bit better than during the morning session. We continued to find better and better lap times toward the last half of the session. We got to work quite early in the second driving session, performing tire evaluations, while checking the wear on the brakes and our aerodynamic performance.

While we made fairly smooth progress in that area, Jarno ran into gearbox trouble toward the end of the session, which meant that we weren't able to perform our long run as planned. In the end, we localized the issue to mechanical parts, but weren't sure of the root cause, forcing us to take time to make a careful investigation into the problem.

From that point, we basically had to do everything we could to ensure that there wouldn't be any car troubles. It's only reasonably that we should be able to get through P1 (first free practice session), P2, P3 and qualifying without having to fight car trouble. I think our lack of results can be linked to not having these issues completely out of the way. We will be going back to look at each issue, intent on eliminating them for once and all.

Just like Ralf, Jarno takes an interest in the work performed in the pits. During the race last year, telemetry problems prevented the team from detecting brake troubles in Jarno's car, and the team had no way of catching the signs of trouble.

Jarno captures P4; his best qualifying result of the season

I was very pleased to see us capture our highest starting position on the grid so far this season. Jarno did a wonderful job for us. I want to publicly thank everyone on the team who worked so hard to overcome the troubles of the previous day.

At the same time, we weren't able to bring Ralf Schumacher's car into correct balance during the morning practice session, and that ended up affecting our performance during qualifying. Compared to the morning session, the condition of the track changed for the better, but we just couldn't improve our attack times during the two runs in the second qualifying session, missing out on a top ten for Ralf. The gap in times was minimal, which made the results all the more unfortunate.

As with Barcelona, Monaco and Silverstone, we weren't able to defend our position out of the start. Having experienced strategic backfires, over-spinning wheels, and other issues, we finally felt we knew what we had to do, and that we were ready for a good start here in Canada.

Of course, we approached the race determined to move up in position as far as humanly possible. We were ready for a tough race. We hoped that Ralf would be able to move up into the points, and we wanted to see Jarno on the podium.

A points-winning drama with both happiness and regret

So how did I feel after the race? I would have to say that it was a mixture of happiness and regret. Jarno finished in the points for the first time this season, which was terrific for him and for us as a team. After winning P4 on the grid, Jarno experienced a number of challenges during the race, with both Ferraris moving up in position from behind. Even so, I think Jarno did everything possible with what he had. We were able to improve the performance of the car for this race, and Jarno responded accordingly.

Naturally, we were looking to finish higher, but the race was every bit as difficult as we thought it might be. I had figured that if there weren't any early retirements up front, then it would be a serious question as to whether we could hold on to fourth place. During the last half of the race, we had expected Ferrari's (Felipe) Massa to pit a second time, but we soon realized he was on a one-pit strategy. With only a ten-second gap between Massa and Jarno, we felt there was a real possibility for Jarno to pull ahead, but I figured our chance disappeared when the safety car came out.

I guess you could say that we had an average start for us. It wasn't anything that could be called a pleasant surprise. I think we still have a lot of work ahead of us in this area. As for pace, I don't think we got to a point where Jarno felt satisfied, even given his strong performance. During the first part of the first stint, we experienced some graining (frayed abrasions) with the tires, which kept our pace down. We also had some engine misfires during the middle part of the race. We sent instructions from the pits to correct the misfire problem. At any rate, neither the car nor the tires were in perfect condition. I'm sure Jarno feels like we could have finished much higher.

	While Jarno was able to win points, Ralf had a much tougher race. Bothered by a lack of grip, Ralf ultimately retired early from the race. The cause of the troubles might have been the difference in specification between the tires used by Ralf and those used by Jarno.

Meanwhile, Ralf reported almost zero from the start. Actually, we used different tires for Ralf than we did for Jarno, reflecting Ralf's preference. In hindsight, I think Ralf might have been able to match Jarno's pace if they were on the same tires. We checked Ralf's suspension during his pit stop to see if there were any problems, but we couldn't detect anything. With no signs of improvement in the car, we discussed our options with Ralf, and finally had him come back into the pits.

Next, we move right on to the race in America, but I am confident that we have confirmed an overall improvement in the performance of our cars. We really want to see a strong finish in the next race, with both cars winning points. I hope to see you cheering us on next week.